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Topic: S/O of School Uniforms. Gym Suits (Read 11535 times)

Our grade school did not have locker rooms, so we had to wear these lovely things underneath our regular school clothes. The elastic around the legs tended to cut into the flesh of chubby 10-year-olds.

White aertex shirts, navy knickers for gym, bare feet inside. Short navy wrap over skirt for outside, with socks and plimsolls. white or balck Freezing cold in the depth of an English winter, even with ones official school cardigan on top, and especially if you were not picked for the team, and spent most of your time hanging around on the sidelines.

Why don't school offer aerobics, or step classes, exercise classes or yoga? Then kids could do it indoors in the warm. And we were not all able to swarm up ropes or jump over vaulting horses.

We had no rules for gym clothes (like there was no real general dress code either), though it would have been better for me if we did. I didn't really do the sort exercise that required that sort of clothes so I didn't have any and for some strange child reason it never occurred to ask my parents, I guess that I thought that they would give me the clothes I needed and if they didn't then we wouldn't have money for it so I shouldn't even bother to ask. I wore random clothes that were more or less (sometimes a lot less) suitable for exercising, like a long skirt and combat boots for running. For some reason no teacher ever said anything about my clothes, I just got bad grades and they tended to dislike me. We did need to have some equipment, like a swimming suit, cross country skis and skates. Those rules were even enforced.

If a student didn't bring their own gym clothes, they had to wear a jersey knit zippered onesie, with stripes. Hideous thing.

That was the gym uniform my sophmore year! (10 of 12). Hideous barely covers it - I have a long torso for my height. The blasted shirt would have come untucked if it hadn't been sewn to the shorts and it was very uncomfortable if I raised my arms too much (seam in a bad location). I was so glad they changed to shorts and a shirt the next year......

we had those! White and blue stripped top with attached blue shorts. Ugly. part way through hs they changed the rules so the girls could wear gym shorts and t-shirts or sweatshirts just like the boys did. May have been title VII(?). Graduated in 82.

I only took gym in Jr. High (6-8th grades). We had to bring white shorts and a white button up camp style shirt. Typing this out is the first time I've ever wondered why we didn't wear tshirts.

The other questions is why white? Khaki would have been more practical, as it is closer to dirt-color.

I don't remember khaki shorts being widely in the 70s. But maybe I just didnt wear them. White was probably chosen so they could be bleached. Ms. Bennett was the girls gym teacher for 25 years. She checked gym lockers on Fridays to make sure you took yours home to me laundered. If you didn't, or if she didnt think they clean she'd send you out to pick up trash during gym period.

General gym class in middle school (Seattle, 1983-ish): Shorts, t-shirt, and sneakers. Student's choice. My second year of middle school I took swimming as my PE credit, so I chose my swim suit (and was allowed to wear a t-shirt over it, which is good because the assistant coach seemed a little too interested in the girls...).High school I earned my PE credits by taking gymnastics (which, since I was on the school team, meant I just wore my usual practice gear).

Our grade school did not have locker rooms, so we had to wear these lovely things underneath our regular school clothes. The elastic around the legs tended to cut into the flesh of chubby 10-year-olds.

In the mid 70s, I wore pretty much the same thing in 7th and 8th grades. Only mine had shorts on the bottom, no elastic. And it was white, which meant you had to be careful what color underwear you were wearing on gym days, because anything other than white or nude colored underwear would show through and you would get teased to death.

Then, in 9th grade we moved up to the high school, and we just had to wear shorts and a tee shirt.

Then, we moved and I started a new school. Blue and white striped, knit fabric. Sort of a one-piece bathing suit with short sleeves and a blue skirt attached. Just lovely for climbing ropes, as there was nothing on your legs to prevent rope burn. Oh, on rope climbing days, we were allowed to wear sweat pants over the gym suits. Only no one's parents were willing to spend money on something we'd only wear a few times--sweat pants weren't popular, and in addition to the gym suits, we also had to buy school uniforms.

This was the only picture I could find. This one has shorts, mine had a standard bathing suit bottom with a short, solid blue skirt over it, about the same length as these shorts. Seriously, the shorts would have been more modest.

We had no locker rooms, so we all changed right in the gym--it was a girl's school, so there were no boys to worry about.

The school basketball team competed in skirts for the first two years I was there. Then they got new uniforms with *gasp*shock*horror* SHORTS. You would have thought the sky was falling. This was in 1976.

Our grade school did not have locker rooms, so we had to wear these lovely things underneath our regular school clothes. The elastic around the legs tended to cut into the flesh of chubby 10-year-olds.

In the mid 70s, I wore pretty much the same thing in 7th and 8th grades. Only mine had shorts on the bottom, no elastic. And it was white, which meant you had to be careful what color underwear you were wearing on gym days, because anything other than white or nude colored underwear would show through and you would get teased to death.

Then, in 9th grade we moved up to the high school, and we just had to wear shorts and a tee shirt.

Then, we moved and I started a new school. Blue and white striped, knit fabric. Sort of a one-piece bathing suit with short sleeves and a blue skirt attached. Just lovely for climbing ropes, as there was nothing on your legs to prevent rope burn. Oh, on rope climbing days, we were allowed to wear sweat pants over the gym suits. Only no one's parents were willing to spend money on something we'd only wear a few times--sweat pants weren't popular, and in addition to the gym suits, we also had to buy school uniforms.

This was the only picture I could find. This one has shorts, mine had a standard bathing suit bottom with a short, solid blue skirt over it, about the same length as these shorts. Seriously, the shorts would have been more modest.

We had no locker rooms, so we all changed right in the gym--it was a girl's school, so there were no boys to worry about.

The school basketball team competed in skirts for the first two years I was there. Then they got new uniforms with *gasp*shock*horror* SHORTS. You would have thought the sky was falling. This was in 1976.

That picture is just like mine, except blue and white with the zipper in the front. Not flattering to chubby little freshman me.

We had white cotton polo shirts with the school crest, and either navy blue jogging bottoms or pleated skirts. The jogging bottoms were made of the most itchy fabric known to man, no matter how they were washed. The skirts were insanely short (mid-thigh if you were lucky), and we weren't allowed to wear shorts underneath. No idea who thought that was a good idea.

By the time we got to 6th form, we were allowed to supply our own jogging bottoms/shorts/skirts, so long as they were navy blue. Much better!!

No gym uniforms, thank goodness! We would just put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and have at whatever we were supposed to be doing.

My experience too. Shorts had to be knee length or longer, a sports bra had to be worn and shirts had to cover the shoulder and navel. I had a pair of clam diggers I wore holes into, used them all three terms, not flattering but quite comfy. My chosen tee had the phrase "Same shirt. Different day." Which was funny for, like, a week...